[PDF] - UN Women's "Making Every Woman and Girl Count" PDF Document

SLIDE 1

Social Protection Public Services Infrastructure Commission

n

the Status

f

Women

11-22

March 2019

\/VOi^bN

E

Commission

n

the Status

f

Women

Sixty-third Session

Women's empowerment and

the link to sustainable development INTERACTIVE

EXPERT PANEL Women's empowerment and

the link to sustainable

development

the

data challenge

and

pportunity

Addressing key gender data challenges through

partnering with

UN

Women's "Making

Every

Woman

and

Girl

Count" programme

by

Manal Sweidan*

Department

f

Statistics,

Jordan

Monday, 18 March 2019

10:00

am

1:00

pm

* The

views expressed

in this

paper are those

f

the author

and do

not necessarily

represent those

f

the United Nations.

SLIDE 2

Introduction

In 2015, the United Nations launched the inspirational Sustainable Development Goals

(SDG)

agenda, aiming at sustainable, inclusive, equitable solutions to the world's most pressing

challenges.

This Global

Agenda

at-large

and

specifically

SDG

Number 5

ffer

an

unprecedented

call

to action to strengthen gender data

and

statistics.

However,

to

make

sure this data contributes usefully to the empowerment

f

women

and

the betterment

f

society at-large, several urgent

course corrections are needed. First, we

must

envision and invest in new

strategies which

ensure

that the SDGs (specifically

Goal

Number 5)

are localized to

unique domestic contexts and

prioritize

building capacity within those contexts to collect

and use

the

new,

cross-cutting data

which

will

emerge. This

is

a

critical first step

to ensure data

is collected

in

a

sustainable, scalable manner

which

is

both relevant and aligned with national planning

efforts.

Second,

we

must

seek to de-stigmatize gender data and gender-related issues more broadly.

Women

in Jordan and countries around the world are more than vulnerable groups. Enabling

female

participation and

empowerment

is critical to unlocking

innovation and progress towards

sustainable

growth

for Jordan

and

in countries around the world. Finally,

we

must

develop strong

theories

f

change which

translate

the data collected into usable evidence which informs and guides policy making. Furthermore,

improved capacity for data

collection and use must be coupled with strong accountability mechanisms to ensure that

improved

data

and

statistics translate

into results for

women's

lives

everywhere. Country Context Jordan

is at

the forefront within the

Arab world and

globally in

terms

f

innovation

and

planning for the successful implementation

f

the Sustainable

Development

Goals. In

2015,

the Jordanian

Government

formulated a

'Roadmap

for

SDG

Implementation' led by the Ministry

f

Planning

and Intemational Cooperation

(MOPIC)

and in close cooperation with UN

agencies. Gender

Statistics Division (GSD)

within the Department of Statistics (DoS), established in 2005 contributes

significantly to this

roadmap.

Key

tasks

f

the

GSD

include:

Establishing and updating a

database which reflects the status of

women

and men

in

Jordan in

a

transparent

and

credible

manner

Conducting

studies

and

research

n

gender

related issues

Building national capacity in Gender Statistics and implementing training programs

related to

gender

statistics

Creating awareness

among

the wide range

f

data users about the importance of using gender

statistics

and

its

indicators in different

development

issues

Coordinating

with

local, regional,

and

intemational parties related to gender

statistics

Reviewing

intemational reports

n

Jordan from

a

gender

perspective

Serving
n

the National

Committee

for

Gender

Equality

and

SDGs

SLIDE 3

Given

the deep challenges inherent to these specific directives, UN

Women

provides critical support to GSD,

DoS,

and MOPIC

via the

'Making Every Woman and

Girl in Jordan Count' project in an effort to improve the development

f

gender

sensitive indicators, data collection, production, analysis, accessibility,

and use

f

gender

statistics.

This support

comes

in the

form

f

technical support; capacity

development; and coordination and comprises

a

critical

component

f

Jordan's

efforts

to achieve gender-related targets set forth in the Global

Agenda. Opportunity

One:

Addressing Data Challenges and Localizing the Global

Agenda

Strong political will within the Jordanian Government alongside the Global Goals offer an unprecedented

pportunity

to increase demand for gender

statistics and

an

pportunity

to bring gender issues into the national conversation. In Jordan,

we

have

already

begun

to see the

impact

f

this data.

For example,

in Jordan, women are very highly educated as compared with men.

However,

higher levels

f

education

do

not correspond with

greater participation in the labor

market. This

state of affairs represents an

enormous

drag on the Jordanian economy, but

xmtil GSD

began

collecting data

n

this issue, there

was no

case for

a

shift

in policy.

However,

in

2017,

GSD

and

ur

partners

used

nationally collected data to successfully

advocate for greater labor law gender neutrality. Policies were instituted to allow flexible working arrangements for

all women;

paternity leave for

new

children;

and

the provision

f

day

care in the workplace. As

a

result of this evidence-driven policy,

female unemployment

rates were

reduced

from

31%

to

25%

and

the female

economic

participation rate

has increased from

13%

to 17%.

In

rder

to expand

upon

successes

like this example,

GSD

requires increased capacity for data collection and use. There are inherent financial and human costs in developing indicators, training enumerators,

and

fielding new data collection for the cross-cutting data necessary to

achieve the

SDGs

for

women. Additionally, given the unique situation of Jordan, decision makers within our government require concrete and replicable options for implementing

r

improving

efforts to integrate the

SDGs with national planning. Given the myriad objectives for increased data collection,

technical,

human, and

financial capacity

support

is needed

to

lower the

cost

f

entry as Jordan seeks to fully integrate the

SDGs

framework

with

its national

planning processes.

The

Jordanian

Government would benefit from opportunities to learn from peers and better understand the

benefits, challenges,

and resources required to undertake different approaches to sustainable,

inclusive, equitable

development

for gender-related issues

and more

broadly.

A

potential solution might be a cross-country initiative to document current efforts to align national planning with the SDGs

with a specific focus on Goal Number

5

and related

indicators; identify best practices; strengthen national capacity for cross-cutting data collection/use; and develop roadmaps to help national statistics and planning offices more efficiently align

domestic budget and

indicator

frameworks

with the

SDGs.

SLIDE 4

Outputs from such a program could significantly improve the ability of

GSD

to effectively

approach

ur

ambitious goal

f

improving

the use

f

gender

statistics

for evidence-based policy

making

in Jordan.

More

broadly,

it would provide

the international community with common metrics for understanding countries' progress

n

SDG

targets that lack reliable data at

the global level

and a

better

understanding

f

domestic

financing

for different aspects

f

the

SDGs

agenda. In sum, the international community needs to continue looking for ways to provide assistance

localizing and operationalizing the Sustainable Development

Goals

if

we

are to translate this

aspirational vision into reality.

Opportunity

Two:

Gender Data

De-Stigmatization

Compounding

technical, human,

and

financial capacity constraints,

gender

statistics in Jordan

and

across the

Arab world

face

significant negative

stigma.

The

impression unfortunately

is that

gender data

is a fringe issue relevant

to

nly

to women

and

representative of

a

feminist

agenda which

may

not be compatible with

ur

culture.

Consequently,

it is very difficult to

recruit men

with relevant

statistics backgrounds

to work in

this space.

Throughout

the existence of

GSD,

nly

two men

were hired. Both

left after brief

tenures, citing the potential risk to their credibility as

statisticians

if they

were

perceived to

nly

focus

n

gender

issues. When

men

are not involved in gender data production and analysis,

it

reduces

their ability to

advocate for improved data, perpetuating the belief

that this is an issue

which

nly

impacts

women.

This

is a

sad and costly misperception. As noted elsewhere, issues which affect women and require the collection and use of gendered data have broad ranging impacts across a society. Despite

its

importance,

it

remains unclear where Gender

Statistical

Strengthening ranks in the

list

f

priorities of

Jordan's overall national statistical strengthening strategy or broader, global

statistical strengthening strategies. The international community must continue to pursue initiatives which work

to inform and re-shape perspectives of

key

stakeholders regarding the broader benefits

and

far reaching implications

f

gender data in

rder

to help

it

reach

its

potential impact.

Concluding Thoughts:

Towards

Stronger Theories

f

Change

Localizing the global goals; increasing domestic capacity for

their

implementation; and reducing stigma are all critical components to improving gender data collection and use. However, in

rder

to

truly move

towards

tangible progress

n

the

2030 Agenda,

we

must be

sure to use the

political will that

we

have

to develop

and adhere

to stronger theories

f

change

in terms

f

how

this

data

is translated into

policy transformation.

For example, Jordan has a

persistent gender pay gap that fluctuates between 10%

and 19%. There

is

strong data to support that

when

pay

disparity exists,

it is

not just

women who

struggle, but the whole

economy. This

issue

and

its

impact

to the

economy and

broader Jordanian society

were recognized for decades. However,

efforts up to this point were of

minimal impact in

bringing about desperately

needed

equity.

SLIDE 5

It

is

important to note that there

exists significant political will within the Jordanian

Government

to address this issue

and

ther

gender-related

problems. In 2011,

n

the basis

f

GSD

data

n

the

intractability of this issue,

the government created a

pay

equity commission.

The work

f

this

commission led Jordan to be invited as the first Arab country to the ILO's Equal Pay

International Coalition.

Jordan

is making significant effort

towards improved data

collection level

and

policy formation.

But, the critical question remains: how

do we

translate advances into tangible change within Jordanian society?

Throughout

the

lifecycle

f

data collection, data use, policy

making, and

accountability we

must

strive towards increased intentionality. Only

through strong, cohesive theories of change and thoughtful collaboration between data producers, data users,